Coronavirus live news: Portugal tightens restrictions; Mexico to buy 32m doses of potential Russian vaccine | World news

Greece reported 372 new cases of the coronavirus, its highest daily figure since the pandemic began.

The latest increase brought Greece’s total caseload to 12,452.

Another four deaths were registered, raising the country’s toll to 297, according to Ekathimerini.

Renters in England and Wales facing eviction have been offered a reprieve – but only if they live in areas under local coronavirus lockdowns, Richard Booth reports.

Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, confirmed that court proceedings for evictions would restart in England and Wales on 21 September after being suspended early in the pandemic.

But he said that if an area was in a local lockdown that included a restriction on gathering in homes, evictions would not be enforced by bailiffs.

Welcome to those of you just joining us – here’s a quick run-through of the headlines you may have missed over the last few hours.

• The global coronavirus death toll passed 900,000 – just over 10 weeks since passing 500,000. If global deaths continue at the current rate, the toll is likely to pass 1 million before 1 October. The global caseload is approaching 28 million.
• Donald Trump has admitted he downplayed the threat of the coronavirus, claiming that he did not want to create panic. On 7 February he told the journalist Bob Woodward in a phone call that coronavirus was “more deadly than even your strenuous flus”, but the message he gave to the public was very different, saying just three weeks later: “One day – it’s like a miracle – it will disappear.”
• The United Nations has called for an immediate “quantum leap” in funding for global programmes developing coronavirus treatments and vaccine candidates. A $15bn funding gap needs to be plugged over the next three months, the the UN secretary-general said.
• France recorded almost 10,000 new Covid-19 infections on Thursday, its highest ever total in a single day. The country reported 9,843 new confirmed cases, an increase of almost 900 on the previous day, as the government prepares to decide on new lockdown measures tomorrow.
• The UK has recorded nearly 3,000 new cases of coronavirus, making Thursday the fifth day in a row that more than 2,000 infections have been detected. Government data shows 2,919 cases were reported on Thursday.
• India confirmed another record number of daily coronavirus infections, recording 95,735 new cases in the past 24 hours. This week, there have been a number of daily infection tallies over 90,000. With 4.4 million recorded infections, India has the second-highest number of cases worldwide, after the US.
• Mexico has signed an agreement to buy 32m doses of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, with the intention of beginning distribution in November, according to reports.

Greek authorities on the island of Lesbos are racing to find refugees who had tested positive for Covid-19 before a series of devastating fires forced thousands to flee Europe’s biggest migrant camp, Helena Smith reports.

Health officials have rushed 19,000 test kits to the north-eastern Aegean island amid fears of a surge in coronavirus cases.

“It’s a very dangerous, very explosive situation,” Efstratios Tzimis, Mytilene’s deputy mayor, told the Guardian. “And it’s making all of us crazed. On the one hand there’s coronavirus, on the other thousands of desperate, hungry people.”

Only eight of the more than three dozen refugees diagnosed with the virus have been found. Authorities say they have been quarantined in a special area with close family members.

President Trump has claimed the US is “rounding the corner” in the coronavirus pandemic, as the country’s death toll rises steadily towards 200,000.

Trump is speaking in a press conference following the revelation that he downplayed the threat of the coronavirus, knowing early on that it was deadly while telling the public: “It’s going to disappear. One day – it’s like a miracle – it will disappear.”

At least 191,536 Americans have already died from the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University’s figures.

You can keep up with the latest in the US here.

Nigerian doctors in state hospitals have suspended their strike over pay, a shortage of personal protective equipment and inadequate facilities, union leaders said on Thursday.

The strike by the National Association of Resident Doctors (NARD), which represents around 40% of the west African country’s medics, started on Monday.

In a break from previous industrial action, this strike had included doctors treating coronavirus patients.

The union’s president said the strike was called off to give the government time to meet its demands.

“The NEC (National Executive Council) of the association has resolved that the strike be suspended because nobody has received a dime anyway. But because we have received commitment from the government,” he said.

“We always give them time to do what they want. We have asked them what time they want and they say two weeks. We are giving them the two weeks.”

Doctors have complained about a shortage of beds and drugs in hospitals, as well as insufficient PPE. The union is also calling for unsettled wages to be paid, pay rises and life insurance coverage.

France recorded almost 10,000 new Covid-19 infections on Thursday, its highest ever total in a single day, Reuters reports.

The country reported 9,843 new confirmed cases, an increase of almost 900 on the previous day, when 8,975 infections were announced.

This comes as the government prepares for a Friday cabinet meeting that may end in new local lockdowns being introduced.

The president and prime minister are opposed to a national lockdown, which they say would be catastrophic for the economy, the Guardian’s Paris correspondent, Kim Willsher, reports.

New cases have surged in France during September, with an average daily increase of 7,292, compared to 3,003 in August.

The United Nations has called for an immediate “quantum leap” in funding for global programmes developing coronavirus treatments and vaccine candidates.

The UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, urged countries to find $15bn over the next three months to fund the ACT-Accelerator programme, a global scheme led by the World Health Organization.

“Either we stand together or we will be doomed,” Guterres told an ACT-Accelerator virtual meeting, describing the virus as the “number one global security threat”.

“We need a quantum leap in funding to increase the chances of a global solution to get the world moving, working and prospering again,” he said.

Nearly $3bn has been contributed to the scheme so far, for the programme’s initial phase, which was launched four months ago.

$35bn will be needed to scale the programme up, Guterres said.

Hello, my name is Clea Skopeliti and I’ll be running the blog for the next few hours.

Please do get in touch with any suggestions for coverage, particularly if you feel I’ve missed an important update from your part of the world. You can DM me on Twitter or drop me an email.

I won’t always have time to reply but will read everything. Thanks in advance.

Headlines from today’s coronavirus coverage from around the world so far include:

• The global coronavirus death toll passed 900,000 – just over 10 weeks since passing 500,000. If global deaths continued at the current rate, the toll is likely to pass 1 million before 1 October, 10 months after the World Health Organization was first informed of the first cases in Wuhan, China. The number of cases worldwide is nearing 28 million.
• Donald Trump has admitted he played down the Covid-19 pandemic, claiming that he did not want to create panic. On 7 February he told the journalist Bob Woodward in a phone call that coronavirus was “more deadly than even your strenuous flus”, but the message he gave to the public was very different, saying just three weeks later: “One day – it’s like a miracle – it will disappear.”
• One of the UK’s top disease experts suggested the government should “maybe pause at the headlong rush to get everybody back into offices”. Prof Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist from the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, warned there had been “uptick” in Covid-related hospital admissions in the UK in recent days, with infections increasing across all areas.
• The UK has recorded nearly 3,000 new cases of coronavirus, on the fifth day in a row that more than 2,000 infections have been detected. According to the latest update, 2,919 cases were reported on Thursday, the highest number since Sunday, when 2,988 new cases were reported. Prior to that, no single day had registered more than 2,000 cases since 24 May.
• Julian Assange’s extradition case in London was paused until Monday so that a lawyer can be tested for Covid-19 after potential exposure. Judge Vanessa Baraitser granted an adjournment at the request of lawyers for the WikiLeaks co-founder and the US government. “We should not really be here today. Covid would be in the courtroom,” said Edward Fitzgerald QC, for Assange.
• It was announced that Portugal will be added to UK quarantine list from Saturday. Grant Shapps, the UK transport secretary, announced on Twitter that people arriving from the country after 4am on Saturday would be required to self-isolate for 14 days. Hungary, French Polynesia and Réunion Island were also added to the list.
• India confirmed another record number of daily coronavirus infections, recording 95,735 new cases in the past 24 hours. This week, there have been a number of daily infection tallies over 90,000. With 4.4 million recorded infections, India has the second-highest number of cases worldwide, after the US.
  
• The number of people in the US applying for unemployment benefits was unchanged last week, at 884,000. The latest update from the Labor Department still far exceeds the number who sought benefits in any week on record before this year, a sign that layoffs are stuck at a historically high level six months after the viral pandemic flattened the economy.
• Tokyo is reportedly planning to lift restrictions on opening hours for bars and restaurants, as new coronavirus cases in the city continued on a downward trend. The capital has recorded far more cases than other parts of Japan, leading to its exclusion from a domestic travel campaign in July. But daily infections have gradually declined since reaching a peak of 472 in early August.
• Spain’s Balearic Islands region said it will impose restrictions on over 20,000 people in Palma de Mallorca due to high numbers of confirmed coronavirus infections. People living in four working-class neighbourhoods of Palma, located away from the city’s historic centre, will not be allowed out from 10pm on Friday, except to go to work or school or seek medical care
• Mexico has signed an agreement to buy 32m doses of Russia’s Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, with the intention of beginning distribution in November, according to reports. The vaccine, the first to be approved anywhere in the world, has been in use in Russia since August. According to a report by Russia’s Tass news agency, deliveries are expected to start in November 2020

That’s it from me, Damien Gayle, for today.